Forfeit
by E-chan5
Summary: Trunks and Vegeta train in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, and Vegeta provokes Trunks; which is not good, considering Trunks is on the borderline of a breakdown...


A/N: I was feeling depressed at the beginning of this. . .just. . .yeah. And Mirai Trunks is fantastic. I was listening to "Forfeit" and "Closure" by Chevelle while writing this. And "Sleepwalking" by Blindside. Good stuff. And so. . .  
  
Disclamier: Mmph.  
  
FORFEIT  
  
No, it can't end like this, I won't let it, no no no no no I'll fight them and I'll WIN!  
  
Dodge. Punch. Kick. Connect; brush it off, it can't hurt; strike, hit; don't get cocky now, there, an opening, quick-energy blast to the face, eat that, you fucking android-  
  
~Father~  
  
"Shit," Trunks gasped, pulling back away from his past father, examining the blood on his knuckles that didn't belong to him. "Oh, dammit, Vegeta, I'm sorry."  
  
Vegeta, humiliated that his past son, who was very near his own age, merely clamored proudly to his feet, piecing back together his dignity the best he could and glaring with the best of them, rubbing blood from his lip. "Why are you sorry, brat? This is what we're supposed to do, unless you've forgotten in all your foolish daydreaming."  
  
Trunks, immediately regretting ever apologizing, felt his face grow hot, as it so often did when he was around his sarcastic and (he was convinced, in any case) sadistic father. Now-long light lavender bangs hung before his eyes, despite all his attempts to tie his hair back, which was just as unruly as that of a true, black-haired saiya-jin. "I wasn't daydreaming. . .I was. . .remembering."  
  
"Are you holding a pity party in the middle of training again?" Vegeta spat with scorn. "Save that for when we sleep, when I'm asleep and don't have to listen to your whimpering."  
  
"I wasn't whimpering, you pompous ass!" Insults had become common ground of communication among the father as son as of late. "I was TRYING to fuel my anger."  
  
"What, do you WANT me to become an android? Would that make it easier for you?" Vegeta sneered, condescending. God, how Trunks loathed that smirk.  
  
"No. . ." Trunks decided not to elaborate that he didn't wish to KILL Vegeta, maybe only seriously maim him, but held his tongue all the same. If Vegeta had really become an android, Trunks didn't know. . .he could feel the power just beneath the surface. . .but so far he hadn't been able to access it, at least not safely, without chance of him completely losing his sanity, a bar he was dangerously close to reaching.  
  
"Then let's get on with it."  
  
Trunks sent his elder a withering glare, one he had inherited from the receiver of such a look. "I'm taking a water break; do whatever you want until I come back." Once the words left his lips, Trunks knew that it had sounded more like an order than a request, and knew that Vegeta would take it to the most offense.  
  
And Vegeta was not pretty when offended.  
  
The proud prince's face flushed with anger, and he balled up his fists as if he were a child throwing a tantrum. . .which Trunks had recently come to regard this little outbursts as. The demi-saiya-jin braced himself, turning around to face his trembling father; he had learned long ago not to keep your back to Vegeta when he was pissed off.  
  
"Just who do you think you are to order me around as if you were better than I am?" Vegeta's teeth were gritted together, containing most of his rage for now.  
  
"I wasn't ordering you, Vegeta, I was just-"  
  
"I know an order when I hear one, brat, I took enough from Freiza to recognize them! Just because you came from the future, you think you're something special. Well, surprise, brat, I don't WANT your help! Kakarotto may be all shits and giggles about having another super saiya-jin tagging along, but I can handle this on my own!"  
  
Trunks knew it would be a big mistake to retaliate, but at this moment, he couldn't give a flying damn. "Like you handled Juuhachigou?"  
  
Scratch that-VERY big mistake.  
  
Vegeta's obsidian orbs widened as another blow to his pride was dealt; twice in one day! "How dare you! I didn't exactly see you making mincemeat out of the little bitch either!"  
  
"At least I can accept help when I need it!"  
  
"That's nothing to be proud of," Vegeta snorted.  
  
"Yes, it is!" Trunks knew immediately that this little bicker wasn't going to be like the others; the rage boiling just beneath the surface was evidence of that. "Back in my time, you either take the help you can get or you die!"  
  
"I WOULD RATHER DIE THAN ACCEPT HELP FROM ANY FILTHY HUMAN OR HALF- BREED!"  
  
Vegeta had pushed the limit.  
  
"Then you're the biggest fucking idiot I've ever seen!" Trunks screamed, launching himself at Vegeta and lashing out at the prince's face. He was vaguely aware of the electricity crackling around them as they both powered to Super Saiya-jin much faster than should have been possible, and blows were exchanged, each with enough power to crack the earth in half. "You moron!" Trunks roared, kneeing Vegeta in the gut. "You're too proud to accept help from your own son?! You're a fool!"  
  
"The foolish one is the one who simpers and cries, begging for someone to save him," Vegeta hissed, recovering from the blow his son had dealt him and responding with a swing at the boy's face, which barely connected, leaving a tiny scrape upon the skin.  
  
"Asking for help isn't begging for a savior!" Trunks protested, knocking away another punch and lifting his shin to block a kick. "You have no idea what it's like, living in my time! It's complete HELL! No one can spare a caring thought for anyone, because they're all too busy trying to survive!"  
  
Vegeta flattened out his palm, curling his thumb inward and thrusting it at his son's face, preparing to blast some sense into the idiot. "You don't know hell! Working for Frieza, THAT was hell!" His palm glowed golden.  
  
And caught the shine of the tears on his future son's cheeks.  
  
Vegeta pulled back his hand, utterly shocked at this blatant display of weakness. Was his fool of a son really this worthless?  
  
Trunks gnashed his teeth, trying desperately to stop his tears, easily detecting the disgust on his father's face, but unable to do so. The only option to rid himself of these embarrassing tears was. . . "You think that was hell? You had two of your subjects, at least. You had two people who respected you, would die for you, DID die for you. What do I have?" Vegeta's scoff was only fuel for the raging fire inside of the demi- saiya-jin. "I HAVE NOTHING! My okaasan, that's all I have; and she won't be around for much longer. I don't even know if she's still alive! The androids could have leveled my own home by now. Do you even KNOW how humiliating it is, to lose TIME AFTER TIME to those. . .those fucking BASTARDS. . ."  
  
"Then you train. Become stronger."  
  
"YOU MAKE IT SOUND SO SIMPLE!" Trunks screamed, digging his hands into his hair, tugging at the lavender roots, the pain somehow comforting, as if to make sure he could still feel. "I CAN'T! I'VE COME SO FAR, AND IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH! AND THEN THEY LEAVE ME ALIVE EVERY TIME, TOYING WITH ME! I'M JUST A PLAYTHING TO THEM, THEY KNOW IT AND THEY HOLD ALL THE POWER OVER ME!!!!"  
  
"Stop your whining, brat!"  
  
Trunks stopped; his breath hitched, caught in his throat by an invisible hook. Whining? Was he. . .whining? Raising bright blue eyes to his father's face. "Wh-what?"  
  
"You think feeling sorry for yourself is going to help anything? You're pathetic. No wonder the androids slaughter humans; now that I've seen you, I see how pathetic they REALLY must be. You have less saiya-jin in you than the woman!" Vegeta began to laugh. "You really are worthless! You will never amount to anything, and the only thing that bites is that you're MY fucking son! I'll have to make sure to train you every day, make you more like me once I kill Cell."  
  
That laugh. . .  
  
~ "Hey, we missed one."  
  
~ "Double points!"  
  
~ Gohan's dead, they killed him, and all they can do is  
  
~ JUST  
  
~ FUCKING  
  
~ LAUGH  
  
Something deep inside of Trunks burst; he couldn't tell if it was vital or not, or even if it was heart. He just wanted to cause the owner of that laugh, that condescending laugh, that laugh that haunted his dreams and tortured his waking moments. That laugh that JUST WOULDN'T STOP no matter how hard he tried to silence it-  
  
"I'LL KILL YOU, ANDRIODS!"  
  
And he felt bigger, if a bit slower. He felt stronger, so strong that as he pounded on that android, as he felt it shouting something, probably crying for mercy. . .he smiled, he grinned, loving the feeling of crushing bones underneath his fists-  
  
~but this is so wrong, so WRONG~  
  
There would be nothing left of that freak; they would both pay, they would suffer and scream and writhe in hell forEVER, if androids even had souls to go somewhere. Did androids feel pain? This one did. Trunks laughed; he was making sure of that.  
  
"YOU FOOLISH BRAT, STOP IT!"  
  
~BREATHING I CAN'T BREATHE~  
  
Trunks felt something in his skull rupture, and he screamed, throwing back his body, his spine whipping into an arch so tight he was sure it would snap in two and fold him over, just like a woman folding a shirt-  
  
"HOLD ON-!!"  
  
Kami, it HURT SO BADLY he couldn't feel anything else; there was something flooding his mouth, he couldn't draw in breath; it was coppery, someone was pouring melted metal onto his tongue to coat it, make it dull-  
  
~there now. Isn't that better? Just calm down, you've done well~  
  
And then there was nothing.  
  
***  
  
When Trunks became aware that he was indeed still alive and no, not a paraplegic, judging by how his limbs were all throbbing. He was nearly naked, with only boxers on his body and a sheet covering his heated skin. The ceiling above him swam about, performing swan-dives and synchronized swimming routines. Everything was fuzzy. Daring to tilt his head to the side and immediately regretting it, for his neck began to punish him for his movement with spirals of pain rippling down his back, Trunks forgot his discomfort at the sight before him.  
  
A very battered Vegeta was sitting in a chair next to the bed, fast asleep. His arms akimbo in their usual act of defiance he seemed nearly. . .content, as he was, should Trunks' descriptive vocabulary be so bold.  
  
And it was.  
  
"Wh-. . ." Trunks' tongue decided it didn't like him, and refused to work for him, his throat screaming its burning assent.  
  
Vegeta cracked open the eye that was not swelled shut; so he was awake after all. He spared only a brief glance at the young man, then closed it again. "Congratulations," he grunted.  
  
Trunks could not speak, but Vegeta felt his confusion.  
  
"Congratulations; you've ascended past a Super Saiya-jin. . .although I don't think it's quite at the next level, it's far beyond what. . .Kakarotto is capable of." He smirked. "Obviously. You ARE my son."  
  
Trunks felt something warm well up inside of him; this was different from all the other feelings he had experienced before, when the warm feeling usually left him in the form of vomited blood. He was happy with this feeling. . .  
  
"Veg-Otousan," he managed to croak. "Did you- . . ." He had meant to say, 'Did you provoke me on purpose,' but again, Vegeta's seemingly excellent mind-reading skills proved useful once again.  
  
This, however, was made even more certain that he had when all he responded with was a grunt and a turn of his head to examine the brilliant canvas that was the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. The blank, empty, white canvas. . .  
  
Trunks smiled, feeling drowsy and, for the first time in his life, not afraid to fall asleep.  
  
A/N: Well, that ended on a nice note. I don't think I like that. Oh well; I might as well torture the characters in my other fics to satisfy my sadism. 


End file.
